


Hospitality

by Dark_Mage_of_Ylisse



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (those aren't shown though), Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Suicide Attempt, Therapy, cute moments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 16:26:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14773100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Mage_of_Ylisse/pseuds/Dark_Mage_of_Ylisse
Summary: St. Diamonte Mental Hospital has a new patient.Lapis Lazuli, age 19, is brought in for mental and physical recovery, in hopes that she will heal and get herself together. Of course, there are a few other patients around her, all in the hopes of getting better. It's not always easy to heal your mind from the damage life can cause, but a few good friends can certainly help ease the road as you go.





	Hospitality

**Author's Note:**

> Before reading this, please note that if you ever feel any sort of urge to hurt yourself, to PLEASE get help. Everyone deserves to be helped, everyone deserves happiness and good health.  
> Please enjoy! Love you guys!

Lapis curled up tightly in her bed, her eyes shut tight. Maybe if she fell back to sleep she would wake up back in her home and she wouldn’t be in this place, this would all just be a bad dream for her to talk about with her friend.

The friend who’d told her parents everything... The friend who’d betrayed her and had the blue haired girl sent here. Lapis was fine, she was absolutely fine, she didn’t need anybody’s help, especially not from strangers. She was okay, what was wrong with going on a diet? Wanting to eat better wasn’t a crime, it didn’t make her crazy, so why the hell had they throw her into this place?

Tears welled up in Lapis’ eyes, though she denied it, she knew damn well why she was here, deep down inside her. The tan woman was 5’6, 100 pounds, and had to be talked down from her self-destructive behaviour for hours.

Last night, Jasper almost wasn’t enough to save her. And, of course, the white haired girl had told Lapis’ mother and father what was going on, and they had sent her here.

There was a soft knock at the door. “Miss Lazuli? I’m coming in.” A gentle voice with a British accent came from the other side, and the door opened. Lapis growled and buried her face into her pillow, wanting to hide from the nurse. “Did you sleep well?” The nurse asked her, and the blue haired girl turned to look at her.

“No.” Lapis hissed, glaring at the older woman. “I don’t exactly find it easy to sleep after I've been ripped out of my home and locked up for being on a DIET.” She realized she should probably be nicer, but the blue haired girl was angry and hurting.

Garnet pulled up a small chair and sat by her bed. “I know this seems scary, but it’s for your health, Lapis. What you did last night, and what you’ve been doing for the past year, it’s not healthy. You are here to heal.”

The tan girl gave a harsh glare at the nurse, “I don’t need to heal, all I wanted was to lose weight, what was so bad about that?”

The tall woman gave a sad sigh. “Everything in moderation Lapis. You need to find a balance. You’re a beautiful young lady, I hope you’ll learn to see that one day.” With that, she stood up and began walking around the room, pointing towards a small window that was covered with a deep blue curtain. “This is the window that is connected to the room next to you, you and your neighbour will be able to speak to each other. If your behaviour improves you’ll be allowed special privileges, but for now, we can’t allow for much. You won’t be allowed to eat alone, or shower by yourself, I know that must sound bad, but this is for your own safety.”

Lapis wanted to cry. She was a prisoner now, not even being allowed to shower alone, or do anything. She was going to insane in here. The blue haired girl was trapped in this mental hospital against her will with no possible way out. “Fine...” She murmured, taking a heavy sigh.

This was humiliating. Strangers were going to watch her eating, force her to gain more weight then she already had, and watch her as she showered. The tan girl forced herself to not cry, clenching her fists together as she buried her face more into her flat pillow.

“Breakfast will be ready in half an hour, I’ll come in to check in on you. Try and rest please.” Said Garnet as she walked out, turning the soft light in Lapis’ room on.

The bluenette watched out the doorway for a few minutes, listening for any noises that might indicate a person coming near her. A blonde nurse walked by after a few minutes. She was a tall, burly woman with short hair and a name tag that read ‘Topaz’. She listened closely as the large woman walked a little bit down the hall, into the room her window must have led to.

“Hello, dear. Are you feeling okay today?” Asked Topaz, but no answer could be heard. “Oh well, that’s okay. I have the new cloth for you, so we can change it now before breakfast.”

There were a few moments of pure silence before the nurse spoke again, “I have something to tell you. You’re going to hopefully have a new friend! There’s a girl in the empty room now, isn’t that exciting? Well, I hope you feel better dear. You’ve been doing so good lately, I’m so proud of you. I’ll call you into the dining hall when breakfast is ready okay?” 

All that time, Lapis didn’t hear another person speak. Maybe it was someone mute? The thin woman watched as Topaz walked away down the hall. 

Another minute went by of nothing, that is, until...

There was a soft tapping at her window. Lapis looked up from her doorway to the window that was covered up by a curtain. Getting up out of her bed and placing her book down on her pillow, she walked over to where the tapping was loudest. She pulled the pale blue curtain back and jumped a little. Staring back at the thin woman was another girl, with fluffy blonde hair that was barely tamed by a green headband, pale skin, and glasses that looked too large for her face. She was waving at Lapis with a small grin.

Lapis waved back shyly, and the blonde opened her side of the window, staring at her expectantly. The window had to be opened from both sides. The blue haired girl grabbed the small crank and opened it up. “Hello.”

“Hi.” The blonde girl chirped, her voice was high pitched and nasally, but not unpleasant, she sounded friendly. “My name’s Peridot. What’s yours?” 

“Lapis.” She answered, and Peridot nodded.

“That’s a cool name. So, are you the new girl? I heard there would be a new patient here.” Said Peridot, and Lapis nodded. “I see. You wanna play a game?” God this girl could chatter, but Lapis nodded again anyways.

“Come on, come into my room. The doors always open, but don’t um… Don’t run, please.” The blonde girl looked a bit downcast for a moment. “I don’t like it when people run towards me…”

Lapis gave her a soft smile, “I won’t. I promise.” The tan girl made her way over into her neighbours room, and her eyes widened. Peridot was a very small girl, only at the height of Lapis’ collarbone. She was standing over by her bed holding out a controller.

“If you’re good, the nurses will let you do things like draw, or play video games, or play cards, things like that. But… It’s a lot more fun with more than one person.” She explained. Lapis felt her heart give a twinge at the sight of the small girl’s arms, wrapped up in white cloth. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Lapis answered. “I’m good. Just uh… What are we playing?”

Peridot knelt down near a shelf, flicking her fingers through a few disk cases, “Hmm, they don’t let me play anything too hard, they don’t want me getting frustrated. How about… Kirby? Those games were made to be easy.”

Lapis sat down on the bed, looking at the small TV that sat on top of the bookshelf Peridot had. The blonde excitedly put the disk into her Wii, and sat beside Lapis. “You don’t mind us sitting together, right?” She asked, and Lapis shook her head. “Okay, thank you. You know, it’s nice having somebody I can talk to easily.”

“What about the other two girls?” Lapis asked, an eyebrow raised, “Can’t you talk to them too?”

Peridot looked down as she brought up the game. “Not all the time. One is really anxious, and almost never in her room. The other sleeps a lot, and her room is diagonal from me, so it’s harder to talk to her sometimes.”

Lapis watched as Peridot set up the Multiplayer, and began playing with her. The game was easy enough, the bright colours and adorable characters were enough for the blue haired woman to see why Peridot was allowed to play it. The blonde was quite good, it was obvious that she was a gamer.

“Have you met the other two yet?” Asked Peridot. 

Lapis had to think for a minute. She had seen Garnet, Topaz, and… That was it. She hadn’t met anyone else, patient or nurse. “No.”

The tiny woman gave a small giggle, “Well, the one across from me is Pearl. She’s the only one they ever let into the kitchen, because cooking helps keep her calm. She mostly helps with making dessert.”

Lapis went pale, she stared at her new friend with a look of horror. “Dessert?” She asked, and Peridot nodded.

“Yeah. Don’t worry though, everything is peanut free so…” The chattery girl seemed to catch on in that moment, looking over directly at Lapis. She had to have noticed now just how skinny the taller girl was. “Oh, oh fuck, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to eat any dessert if you don’t wanna, I’m sorry Lapis, it just didn’t click.”

The blue haired woman shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m okay.” She said quietly, “Let’s keep playing.” She focused more into the game, clearing a few levels with the blonde in what had started as an awkward silence, but grew into a comfy one. Peridot made for nice company, though Lapis couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong with the tiny girl. The cloth around her arms, her small flinches when Lapis would move a little too fast, and the small sign on Peridot’s door that read “Absolutely NO sharp objects”. 

Lapis had the feeling she knew why Peridot was here. She wouldn’t bring it up though, she didn’t want the blonde to be uncomfortable in her own room. 

“So.” Started the tiny gamer. “Where are you from?” 

Oh geez, Lapis had to actually think about that for a moment. “Kinda 4 places.” She told the blonde, who now looked very intrigued. “Australia, Spain, America, and I know I have a small bit of Italy in me.”

Peridot’s eyes lit up, “Oh wow! Have you you ever been to Italy?! I went once when I was little and it was amazing!”

Lapis began to laugh softly, “No, I’ve never been. I’ve visited Spain before though, it’s where I’m mostly from. What about you? Where are you from?”

“Canada.” Peridot answered, “I miss it. It was nice, the weather wasn’t bad, and… I’ll be honest, society was a lot less judgy there.”

Nodding in agreement, Lapis set her controller down after they had defeated a boss. “I should probably get back to my room.” She told the smaller woman, who frowned but shrugged. 

“I guess. Hey uh… Lapis?” She asked, and as the blue haired girl got off the bed she turned around. “I’m not bothering you, right? You know you don’t have to play with me if you don’t want to.” 

Lapis shook her head, feeling bad for the pale girl. “No, I want to. You’re nice. I like you, Peridot.” She assured her friend, who gave a happy smile and waved as Lapis left the room.

Almost immediately, she bumped into nurse Garnet. “Oh, sorry dear. Are you alright?” She asked, looking a little worried. Lapis nodded, and then, looking into Peridot’s bedroom, Garnet gave her a look of surprise. “Did you… Did she ask you to play with her?”

Lapis grew a little nervous at the question. “Um, yeah? Why?”

Garnet gave a look of pure joy. “Lapis, Peridot has severe depression, she hasn’t talked to anyone in 3 days, and you just got her happy, talking, and playing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember to comment if you liked it, I hope you guys all have a nice day/night! <3


End file.
